The Delta independent., 1887-06-07

Translated tor The Cincinnati En-
Quirer from the French of De Boisgo-
bey. by Il. G. Waggener.
After dinner we took our coffee upon
the terrace of the chateau. Twilight
had fallen and a rising moon began to
light up softly a landscape wonderfully
pleasing to the eye, wood of oaks to
the left garden of towering heath
and boundless expanso of sky. The
General holding an enormous cigar be-
tween his teeth. sent forth great mouth
fuls and clouds of ordorous vapor that
mounted to the heavens in blush spir-
ais. His wife. seated beside him, rolled
cigarette; we were all smoking. in
fact, but nobody spoke.
This wife of the Geney-, fully fifteen
years younger than hers husband, was
STILL A VERY BEAUTIFUL WOMAN,
And more than one of us envied the
lot of the old soldier, though we really
knew nothing about him, save what
all knew, that he was rich, a gentle
man and had served gallantly up to
the time he had received a serious
wound at the S ege of Paris, and been
forced to take his retreat. We knew
this. say, but nothing more. He had
bought the chateau soon after the war.
but had occupied it only six months.
and, as this was the first time we had
been honored with an invitation to be-
come his guests, we were naturally n
little timid.
At last, however. the doctor of the
canton, in other days surgeon in the
Army of Africa, venturcd to break the
silence by asking the General to tell us
of campaigns, or at least one of those
little military episodes which so aid
digestion. He demurred =at--first, but
after interrogating his wife with
glance to which she responded with an
encouraging smile, he thus began:
Gentlemen, have any of you ever
eaten rabbit curried with olives?
No. you have not? Well, l am not
astonished. 1t is dish Of which French
cooks have never had the recipe, but
possess it. and with your permission
will tell you where and how l learned
it. 1t dates far back, before 1 had been
under fire for the first time.
ION graduating from St. Cyr," con-
tinued the General, Il had at the out
set n chance to enter the Zouaves, and
debarked at Algiers month before the
first expedition 10 Kabyle. for at the
the time our Colonel did not 20 very
far into the enemy's country. Never
theless, he
FRETTED HIMSELF CONTINUALLY,
To give lesson to a certain tribe of
Flissas that perched in the heart of the
mountains. some fifteen leagues above
Algiers. and finally the order was given.
despite the knowledge that these
savages would fight like devils or mad
men, and that the postio would be
hard to break up. A beaut full debut
for sous Lieutenant of twenty years,
and was not at all joyous ut the pros
pect. perpetually asking myself what
effect the whstl ng of the balls would
have upon me. Still. curious rs l was
L
was not at all anxious to try it.
''Our first affair engaged us on the
border of a river which we called the
Isser, and whicE we were forced to
cross with the water to our shoulders
and the kabyles firing upon us from a
distance. The balls from their long
flint guns passed directly above our
heads with a music like the singing of
flutes. But while they were firing at
us in this harmless fashion we unex-
pectedly caught them in the plain with
troup of cavalry, and it was truly a
comical sight to see them run before
our Spahis, who, without giving them
selves the trouble to saber them out
right, seized them by the tops of their
burnous. and, raising them us you
would raise glove. left the victim on
the earth all naked. Decidedly said
to myself. this war is n very amusing
thing
''Ihe next day however, we had to
Eight again; the FIssas had mounted to
the crest of the mountains, and there
awaited u.s. We bvouacked for the
night at the foot of the mountain and
departed before day without sounding
the reveille.
WE HOPED TO SURRENDER THEM,
But they were on their guard. and from
all appearances prepared to receive us.
"For more than al hour we climbed
toward the crest by a pathway fit only
for goats. As dawn commenced to
whiten the Sky the gunshot of Il Kabyle
sentinel sounded just above us. 1t
seems to me | hear it yeu-the devilish
gunshot-though in the meantime I
have listened to many others. without
counting the Prussian cannonade
around the walls of Paris. 1t thrilled
me from head to foot; but it was not
for long. The captain cried: En- avant,
my lads! En- avantr' and we dashed
ahead. Suddenly stumbled and fell;
tripped upon the body of man. one
of my own Zouayes, gutted by the
stroke of bayonet, and lying across
the road by which we mounted.
"Still. did not stay to examine him,
for thew were firiDp unon lIs from all